Rick Cosnett Dishes About Playing “Ignorant” Dr. Wes on The Vampire Diaries

We came to know and love Rick Cosnett when he played the detestable Dr. Wes Maxfield on Season 5 of The Vampire Diaries. This Aussie actor brought his rugged good looks to the role and really creeped us out. Now he’s taking his talents to another CW show this fall, playing Eddie Thawne on The Flash.

Just in case you aren’t fully aware of the DC comic book world, Rick will be playing the man who eventually becomes Professor Zoom, the archenemy of the the Flash, Barry Allen (played by Grant Gustin). How does Rick feel about playing back-to-back villains?

“I do love the messed up depths of Dr. Wes and I think it’s something that fascinates and scares me about the human condition,” Rick told My Fan Base, remaining mum on exact details about his new character. “I always want to know why people behave in extremes and how they got to that point. Eddie is a wonderfully complicated character to play.”

If you’re thinking that it sounds like Rick is a huge fan of Dr. Wes, you’d be correct. It seems as though the character is really sticking with the 31-year-old actor and influencing his future works. What exactly is he taking away from his TVD character and how he saw the world?

“I related Wes’ choices very much to prejudice. He is a man who is simply ignorant and spirals out of control. He sees vampires as ‘other,’ just as a lot of ignorant people in society today see different races, sexes, etc. as ‘other’ to themselves,” Rick explained. “They will treat people completely differently based on this awful assumption and so it is with Wes. Hopefully with the fall of Wes, what we can take away are values of equality, I hope; something in addition to blood and sexy vampires, of course.”

Do you miss Rick as Dr. Wes Maxfield on The Vampire Diaries? Will you watch him on The Flash? Hit the comments and let us know!